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Deck Design Competition 2011 – Week One Round Up

Mark â€œYou know we need a competition. Competition’s are good for increasing site exposure.â€

Tu â€œWhat kind of competition?â€

Mark â€œNot sure I”ll come back to you?â€

A couple of days later…

Mark â€œI have that idea for a competition. How about based around my Budgets Decks article and we do a Deck Design Competition ?â€

Tu â€œYou sure?â€

Mark, in his best Kevin Costner voice aka Field of Dreams

â€œIf you publish it, they will come !â€

And here we are two weeks later with over forty entries already on the web site. So what Rob, Cyrus and myself have done is look at all the decks and come up with our personal favourites. We couldn’t cover all forty so far in one article but just like you guys we are also leaving comments on the Forum’s.

So which decks have inspired us, pleased us or just made us think. Now I would like to say we have on occasion looked more at the potential weaknesses of the decks listed in this article than their strengths, this is because this is a design competition and we want the final build to be the very best it can be. What I will say though is that ANY deck that has been featured here has proven itself to at least one of the Judges or been popular on the Forum’s. If you have a mention here pat yourself on the back, you’ve done really well so far.

A great deck name and synergy. Probably not competitive enough but I would have a lot of fun playing it. – Rob

A great design, a lot of potential, a little light win con wise, but it looks to be getting there. – Cyrus

I hadn’t really noticed this deck before I started doing my review of the Forum and when both Rob and Cyrus emailed me I was intrigued. Okay, I don’t think I will be running it next week in Sheffield at the National’s Qualifier but I could see myself working on this to be an FNM deck. This deck is so cool with all the Wall synergies.

I didn’t like Liquimetal Coating decks but Ancient Stirrings really helps. I’ve suggested Sylvok Replica as well to up the synergy levels but it looks like a tight deck. – Rob

I wanted to put this in my top lists, but on the wizards forums I frequent, there have been much better budget versions of the deck around for some time, and using sylvok replica is a pretty obvious core to the deck, as is getting more use out of the stirring’s in general. – Cyrus.

I have to admit I am not a fan of this deck though I always was a fan of Shivan Dragon so any deck that can force a red dragon into it must have something going for it.

Awesome idea! Needs more ways of finding the Mindslaver but going infinite seems really cool and he has the defences to make the game last that long. – Rob.

A wonderful design with a pretty interesting focus. My gripe with the deck however, is a lack of win conditions, for the most part, it’s too all in on the Mindslaver for me. – Cyrus

Well I am not convinced that this is a deck I would actually want to play or play against for that matter. I actually know Patrick quite well as he is from Lincoln and he was running a Valukut deck long before Primeval Titan came along. Sadly, I don’t attend Lincoln FNM anymore otherwise I could give everyone a better insight into this neat idea for a deck. Well done on an interesting new concept.

A pretty solid deck, Ichorclaw Myr is the only thing I’d suggest changing in the list, and possibly mana leak swapped with spell pierce, but it looks like it could win quite effectively since crusader alone wins games, and the rest of the deck is pretty well sculpted. – Cyrus

I love this deck, I built up a black blue aggro deck for Mirrodin Besieged Gameday using a very similar engine going 3-0. I disagree with Cyrus on the Ichorclaw Myr, I think they are great as if someone blocks them they become bigger being able to take out most things and a wall of omens in two shots.

It’s got a lot of power, but I feel it’s even more prone to the unreliability issues that normal quest decks have – Cyrus

This wasn’t in Cyrus’s top three but it made it into mine. It has all the pieces to be a competitive deck, sure it may be a little unstable but sometimes juggling hand grenades is what Magic is all about. The good thing is though Andrew has his upgrade path already laid out and has proven the deck in combat, something few others have managed which is a definite plus point.

Okay, I thought this deck deserved a mention as I actually think it is quite a cute deck. Wurmcoil and Mimic Vat in the same deck looks good but when you see Sea Gate Oracle amongst your own guys this looks like it could be fun. Personally, I’d like Narcolepsy over Ice Cage but not sure on the budgetary constraints. Still looks fun to play and with some of my favourite cards.

Okay, I just had to include this deck for the name alone. Any deck that has the cheek to run Haze Frog has my vote and to build a deck around it even better, well okay then lots of different Fog effects. I can see this deck being quite annoying to face and real fun to play.

A strong deck, but the manabase needs some work to achieve the WW costs on turn two reliably, throwing in a few refuges would shore up the deck as a whole. The wave has a few too many non-permanents to hit – Cyrus

I agree with Cyrus as the Genesis Wave could make or break this deck. Four Greypelt Refuge would also really help the mana base though it does come into play tapped. The design isn’t too original with Allies but the Genesis Wave tech makes it stronger just like it did Eldrazi Elves. Hmmmm, Eldrazi Monument anyone ?

Now the thing is this deck is basically Soul Sisters by Conley Woods but post rotation, I have tried a couple of variants as well but never managed to get the deck consistent since rotation. Could this version do it? Accorder’s Paladin is a new twist that I hadn’t considered before but what I tried before though was trying to find a home for Felidar Sovereign and Sun Titan, the former never seemed to work and the latter went in combo with the creature strategy really well. However, one card I would like to see for the evasion as well as life gain is Kemba’s Skyguard.

4 [card]kabira crossroads[/card]

18 [card]plains[/card]

4 [card]Serra Ascendant[/card]

4 [card]Ajanis Pridemate[/card]

4 [card]Souls Attendant[/card]

4 [card]Kor Skyfisher[/card]

4 [card]Accorder Paladin[/card]

4 [card]Lone Missionary[/card]

4 [card]Survival Cache[/card]

4 [card]Journey to Nowhere[/card]

3 [card]Divine Offering[/card]

2 [card]Ajani Goldmane[/card]

1 [card]True Conviction[/card]

*****

Well that’s a review of the week so far. We’ve had some excellent entries so far but there is still two weeks for new ground to be broken and for decks to be developed. If you feel we have missed the potential of a deck then make sure you promote that deck on the Forums and email me with your feedback so I can expand the scope of the next article.

I have competed twice at GB nationals in 2010/2008, was Runner Up at Senior Nationals 2010, Won a Grand Prix Trial which took me to Paris 2009. My love of the game was such that I did previously win a writing competition on MTG Twincast which led to me being a Feature Writer for around a year until the Sponsor sold up but still did the occasional article. There is also a verb "To Pinder"colloquially used in northern magic communities which means "to gain life", I was a solid fan of Martyr of Sands/Proclamation of Rebirth combo and many players have heard those fateful words, Sacrifice Martyr of Sands, gain 21 life against me to see the game go out of their reach with lethal damage available to them next turn.

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